Rubicon Minerals has outlined plans for a $60-million Phase II expansion of exploration programs at its Phoenix gold project in the Red Lake gold district of Ontario.
The company reports that positive results from its ongoing Phase I drill program of the F2 gold system demonstrate the presence of a large and growing gold mineralized system that remains open in all directions. Following completion of its recent bought deal financing, Rubicon said it has approximately C$133 million to fund planned exploration programs while still preserving sufficient funds for future use.
Rubicon’s exploration planning includes completion of the remaining 38,500 m of drilling under its current $25-million, 80,000-m Phase I drill program, which it expects to complete around the end of the first quarter of 2010. Drilling to date on the F2 gold system totals 91,100 m. A 120,000-m Phase II surface and underground drill program will continue to test the project’s 9X target area and will also include closer-spaced delineation drilling in several parts of the currently known gold system. Following completion of this drilling, approximately 250,000 m of drilling will have been completed on the F2 system.
Approximately 750 m of underground excavation are planned, with drill stations established to provide new access to several parts of the 9X target area for Phase II underground drilling. Contingent on successful results from the delineation drilling, a bulk sample will be taken for grade estimation, metallurgical, and other studies.
Rubicon controls over 65,000 acres of exploration ground in the Red Lake district. (www.rubiconminerals.com)
